How can I prioritize my health and well-being when I have to work grueling hours in a demanding, high-pressure job?
A. Work-life balance has been getting a lot of press lately, with individuals claiming that people don’t want to work, that some generations aren’t motivated by their job responsibilities and think they should be promoted faster than they deserve. And yet other industries recognize that their profitability depends on the work and hours that individuals dedicate to their job responsibilities. Managers, HR and organizational leaders need to know the status of all their employees, and it’s not just billable hours, closed deals or deliverables.
This story was shocking and tragic. Hopefully, C-suite leaders believe this and not just employees or HR. If your employees haven’t taken a vacation in a year, is that a warning sign? If your employees express exhaustion and a lack of emotional stability, is this a warning sign? If your employees are billing an exceptional number of hours, is that something to be happy about or worried about? When companies put business profitability ahead of the health and well-being of their employees, they head toward exceptionally high levels of employee turnover, levels of burnout that cause illness, and, in a case recently documented in the media, the death of an employee. .
This is an extreme that we hope will not happen again. But if it happened here, we know it will probably happen elsewhere. While there may be extenuating circumstances to this story, everyone knows that sometimes employees are too stressed and work too many hours. This may not be common and may only last a short time. But how long is too long? There are proven sectors where physical and mental exhaustion can lead to serious mistakes, whether in healthcare, industry, legal, etc.
The question that needs to be answered is: who is responsible for this? Is the employee responsible for managing their own health and well-being? Does the manager have the responsibility to recognize that too much work is not a good sign? Every organization will tell you that they have health benefits and that the health and well-being of their employees is important to them. But do these organizations encourage their employees to take advantage of these services? Do some managers say, “I need you to go home. I need you to take two days off. Or are they saying, “Once this deal is done, we can all party”?
The goal of a business is not to put itself in a position to be sued following the death of an employee for some work-related circumstance that could have led to this type of situation. An employer’s goal should be to take care of its most valuable asset, its employees. No manufacturing plant would downgrade its equipment to the point of collapse, and no organization should do the same, whether it’s forced overtime in healthcare or extreme billable hours in the legal field. Every organization must review its expectations of people to ensure employee health and well-being are a priority.
If it’s the team leader who models these overwork tendencies, someone else within the organization needs to step in and protect their employees who might be pushed to the same edge. Most people are familiar with industries known for “putting people through the paces, experiencing the things I’ve experienced.” Yet no one thinks this is healthy or a good idea and no one has intervened to stop it. Are people being unreasonable when working more than 70 hours a week becomes the norm? Or have companies crossed the line? If businesses want to remain union-free, they need to think about what is expected of their employees. Profitability is not a “nice to have,” of course. The same goes for maintaining the path to get there.
Within organizations, senior leaders must advocate for change and speak up. Law firm partners or doctors who have experienced this cannot advocate for change. They may assume that if they have experienced it, other people can. You can try to negotiate more flexible work arrangements that allow you to work remotely a few days a week to eliminate commute time. Your HR department should investigate where people live so managers know what their movements are like.
When organizations require their employees to return to the office, leaders need to be aware of the impact of what they are asking of their employees. Otherwise, you can’t create a strong company culture. You frequently hear “be your own advocate” or “speak up.” Yet in a time when people fear losing their jobs, they can remain silent. You can absolutely talk with your manager and ask for a more balanced workload and how that will make you a more effective employee. You have every right to express yourself and denounce the negative impact of working hours on your health and well-being. And getting a few more people to do the same would make the initiative even more effective.
Following the banker’s death, we hope that more attention and initiatives will be given to helping employees manage their work-life balance across all sectors.
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